Internal-combustion engine



M. NUTA.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6. 1920.

'Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

2 SHEET$-SHEET 1.

M. NUTA.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6, I920.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MEYER NUTA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14., 1922.

Application filed October 6, 1920. Serial No. 415,191.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MEYER NUTA, a citizen of the United States, residingat Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to'internal combustion engines and has for itsobject to secure a very complete scavenging of the engine cylinder, theintake into such cylinder of a large fuel charge, and a forcedlubrication of the piston and the bearings of the piston rod. Itconsists of a novel form of piston rod with co-operating means foroperating it, as will be pointed out in the followingv fit the wall orface 13 at the bottom of the specification.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a sectional view, somewhatdiagrammatic in character, through the cylhinder of an internalcombustion engine, provided with my invention, taken on a plane crossingthe crank shaft at right angles and showing the piston and itsconnections with the crank shaft in one position.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line II-IIof Fig. 3, showingthe parts in a different position from Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on a plane at right angles to that ofFigs. 1 and-2 and showing the parts in the positionrepresented in Fig.2.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views taken on the lines IV, Vand VI, respectively, of Fig. 3.

In the accompanying drawings, 2 desig nates the cylinder of an internalcombustion, engine, and 3 the piston working therein. As the presentinvention is applicable to internal combustion engines of differenttypes and constructions I have herein merely indicated it in connectionwith a single engine cylinder which is diagrammatically illustrated.

4 is the crank shaft. The piston rod, which is of peculiar construction,as will be described, is. provided with a bearing 6 surrounding thecrank portion of the shaft 4,

and another bearing 7 surrounding the wrist pin 5 that unites this rodwith the piston. The piston rod is formed of two separate parts, one, 9,carrying the bearing 6 and herein termed the crank shaft portion of thepiston rod, and the other, 10, carrying-the bearin 7 and herein termedthe isto'n poi tion 0 i the piston rod. (he of is see parts,

preferably the crank shaft portion, isformed with a longitudinalchannelll in which lies the other portion, as is well represented in F1g. 4. The inner face of the piston section of the piston rod is formed,on its inner face, with a longitudinal groove or channel 15, for apurpose that will be described. The bottom 13 of the channel 11. in thecrank shaft portion of the piston rod, that is, the end toward thebearin 6, ispreferably inclined, as represented in ig. 3; and the lowerportion of this channel is closed by a cover plate 12, of a lengthsuflicient to cover the outer or free end of the other section, 10, ofthe piston rod, under all working conditions. The outer end of plstonrod section 10 is formed into an inclined face 14 that is adapted tochannel 11 in the crankshaft section of the piston rod when the parts ofthe piston rod are brought into the relative positions indicated inFig. 1. The base of the piston section, 10, of the piston rod, that is,where it joins the bearing 7, is provided with a shoulder'or abutment 16preferably having an inclined face with which a correspondingly inclinedface 17 of the crank shaft portion of the plston rod comes into.engagement when the parts assume thepositions represented in Fig. 1. Abox or enclosing casing availed of in effecting a complete scavengingofthe engine cylinder and drawing thereinto a large charge of the fuelmixture. When the piston is moved toward the crank shaft the free ends,14 and 17, come simultaneously into engagement-with the faces 13- and 16which form abutments therefor, thus making in effect a rigid piston rod,and the parts of the engine work under these conditions, that is, with ashortened rigid piston rod, during the compression and working strokesof the en ine. On the other hand when the piston is moved away from thecrank shaft, as represented in Figs. 2 and 3, during scavenging andintake strokes of the piston, the parts of the piston rod sliderelatively to each other, and there are spaces opened between the freeends of the piston rod sections and the abutment-.5 opposite to whichthey stand, as best shown in Fig. 3. As the ressures upon the piston arerelatively light during these strokes 1t 1s not necessary that thepistonrod be so rigid as shaft 4 turns, accordingly as the stud may bedirected. by the switch 32. The lever 26 extends, from its fulcrum 27,beyond the stud'31 and is connected at its free end with during thecompression and working strokes *"a link 24, the otherend of which ispivotwhen the pressures are high.

I will now describe the means by which the movements of the pistonrelative to the crank shaft, above briefly stated,'are caused to takeplace. 28 indicates an eccentric disk secured fast to the crank shaftalongside the journal for the bearing 6. In its inner face,'that is, theface toward the. piston rod, are formed two grooves, the inner, smaller,of which, 29, is concentric with the crank shaft journal for the pistonrod, while the larger groove, 30, is eccentric. These two grooves are soplaced that they merge at the portion designated 8. The grooves areseparated from each other by a crescent shaped ridge 36, the ends ofwhich are truncated, and have pivoted adjacent to them the taperingswitches or gates 32, 33. The inner, concave, surface of each gate'has aradius corresponding with that of the outer wall of the innergroove 29,while its outer,

convex, surface has a radius corresponding with the inner wall of theouter groove 30. Springs 34 act upon the heel ends of the switches 32,33 and tend to hold them in the positions to which' they may be set withtheir outer free ends in engagement either with the inner wall of theportion 8 where the two grooves, 29 and 30, merge into one, or with theouter wall, accordingly as they may be set. These walls are preferablynotched, as indicated in Fig. 2, to receive the thin, free, ends of thegates. The latter when moved to engage with the inner wall of the groovecloses the entrances to the inner groove 29 and leave the outer groove,30, intact, and when moved outwardly to engage the outer wall of thegroove they serve to close off the outer groove and leave the inner one,29, intact. The gate or switch 32, which 1 term the leading one, isprovided at its heel end with tangs or projections 35 adapted to extendrespectively into the grooves 29 and 30; that is to say, when the freeend of the gate is in engagement with the outer wall of the groove theinner tang 35 extends a little way into the groove 29 so as to beengaged by an object following the path of such groove, while when theouter free end of the gate engages the inner wall of the groove theouter tang extends slightly into the groove 30 and will be engaged by anobject following that groove. 26 indicates a lever supported upon afulcrum 27 carried by the bearing 6. The lever hence moves with 'thehearing as that is moved by the crank of the shaft 4;. The lever isprovided with a stud 31 adapted to lie in one of the grooves 29 or 30and to travel in one or the other thereof as the ally connected, at 25,with the piston portion 10 of the piston rod, preferably near the unionof such rod with its bearing 7. It will be seen by a comparison of Figs.1 and 2 that Whenever the stud 31 is in the groove 29and travelstherein, the sections of the piston are brought together, the piston rodas a whole being thus shortened, because the stud 31 is brought, by thegroove 29, as close to the center of the journal of shaft 4 as it ispossible. It will also be seen that so long as the stud 31. lies in thegroove 29 the parts will be maintained in the positions just referred tosince the groove 29 is concentric with. the journal with which thebearing 6 engages, and the lever carrying the stud 31 is pivotallysupported upon such bearing. On the other hand, when the stud 31 is inthe groove 30, and the disk 28 iscaused to turn by the revolution of theshaft 4;, the lever 26 is reciprocated and the piston moved relativelyto the crank shaft, in the manner here in set forth. hen the stud 31enters the groove 30, from the merged portion 8 of the two grooves, theparts are in the positionindicated in Fig. 1, and as the stud travels inthe'groove the lever is gradually rocked on its fulcrum until, reachinga point diametrically opposite the portion 8 of the groove, the leverhas been rocked to its greatest extent, as represented in Fig. 2, andthe piston moved, relatively to the crank shaft, as far as is possiblewith the apparatus being described. Thereafter, as the crank shaftcompletes its revolution the lever is reciprocated in the oppositedirection moving the piston toward the crank shaft, as the stud 31 isforced inwardly toward the center of the journal of the crank shaft,through the action of the cam groove 30 as its portion 8 approaches thestud. .1

An oil channel 23 extends through the crank portion of the shaft 4; andwith this channel communicates a duct 22 leading to the surface of thejournal for the bearing 6. A duct 19 leads from the lower end of thechannel 11 in the crank shaft portion of the piston rod through the.bearing 6 and terminates in a semicircular groove 37 on the inner faceof the bearing, with which groove communicates the duct 22. A'duct 20leads from the face 16 through the bearing 7 to the central channelthrough the connecting pin 5 by which the piston is united with thepiston rod. It will-be seen from the foregoing description taken inconnection with Fig. 3 of the drawings that there is a passage forlubricant from the crank case to the cylinder walls including thefollowing passa es: the channel 23 in the crank shaft; the nets 22,

37 and 19; the space 39 between the end of the piston section of thepiston rod and the abutment 13, closed by the plate 12; the channel 15;the space between the outer end of the crank shaft section of the plstonrod, and the abutment face'16, enclosed by the box 18; the duct 20; andthe chamlel through the wrist pin, which channel opens to the walls ofthe cylinder between the packing rings 38 carried by the piston. Theoperation of the mechanlsm that has been described may now be stated.Starting at the beginning of the compression stroke, with the parts inthe positions indicated in Fig. 1, and the crank turning in thedirection indicated by the arrow in that view, it will be seen that thestud 31 is about to enter the inner groove 29, being directed thereintoby the switch or gate 32. The stud 31 is now as near to the center ofthe journal of the crank shaft as it is possible for it to be, and thelever 26has therefore been rocked, carrying its free end toward thebearing 6. This, acting through the link 24:, has moved the pistontoward the, crank shaft and has telescoped the two portions of thepiston rod until their ends, 14: and 17, respectively, en-

gage with the abutments 13 and 16, thus shortening the piston-rod andmaking it a rigid structure from hearing 6 to hearing 7. As the crankshaft rotates, turning in the direction of the arrow, the piston whichis at its extreme lowermost position, is moved upwardly by the. crank,compressing the charge of fuel within the cylinder. In making thiscompression stroke the stud 31 continues in the channel 30, and thepiston is forced upwardly only so far .as is permitted by the shortenedpiston rod. At the completion of the compression stroke the fuel chargeis ignited and the working stroke of the piston takes place, duringwhich the stud 31 continues in the groove 29, maintaining the parts ofthe piston rod in their shortened or telescoped relationship and hencein such engagement that the piston acts as a rigid connection to safelytransmit to the crank shaft the force imparted to it from the piston. Asthe gate 32 is carried, by the rota tion' of the crank shaft, past thestud 31 the latter acts upon the inner tang 35 at the heel of the gateto force it outwardly. and rock the gate or switch and move its free endacross the entrance to the inner groove 29, at the same time opening theentrance to the outer groove 30 as represented in dotted lines Fig. 1.The gate being moved to this position is there maintained by the spring34.

At the end of the outward or downward stroke of the piston, completingthe working stroke of the engine, the parts are again at the positionindicated in Fig. 1, except that now the ate 32 stands in position todirect the stud 31 into the outer, eccentric, groove 30, and thescavenging stroke of the piston is about to begin. As the crank shaftturns raising the piston and causing the exhaust of the gases ofcombustion from the cylinder, the piston is simultaneously movedrelative to the crank shaft journal, and away therefrom, by reason ofthe stud 31 moving, in the groove 30, from the position shown in Fig. lto that represented in Fig. 2,'with the result that the pistomapproachescloser to the head of the cylinder on this scavenging stroke than it didon the compression' stroke. It follows that the gases of combustion arevery completely expelled and the cylinder is thoroughly scavenged. Toaccomplish this the piston rod has been lengthened, by the movement. ofthe lever 26. The piston rod when lengthened is not so rigid as it iswhen shortened, during the compression and working strokes, but the workto be performed by the piston is not, on this stroke, severe, and theparts are easily made sufliciently strong to effect the movementsnecessary to secure the scavenging and intake strokes. During thedownward, intake, stroke of the piston it has a movement jointlyproduced by the action of the crank shaft and of the lever 26, as willbeunderstood, until, upon completion of the intake stroke, the parts cometo the positions indicated in Fig. 1 when the cycle of operationsdescribed is repeated. As the leading gate 32 is carried past the stud31 at thecommencement of the exhaust or scavenging stroke of the pistonthe stud acts upon the outer tang 35 shifting the gate or switch toposition to open the entrance to the inner groove and close that to theouter groove, putting the parts in position to effect the compression ofthe charge on the next reciprocation of the piston. The other orfollowing gate, 33, is shifted alternately case, through the channels23, 22, 19 and 15,

as already traced. These spaces are filled With the lubricant,'as theparts of the piston rod separate from each other, which will be forcedfrom such spaces as the piston rod parts come together. channels, in thejournals of the crank shaft and wrist pin of the piston communicate.respectively with the ducts19 and 20 during such time only as thelubricant is being forced outfrom the spaces 39 and 40. When thesespaces are being filled the ducts 19,

' The semicircular 20 are closed by the ungrooved portions of thebearings. The arrangement described insures a constant forcedlubrication of the moving parts of the piston and its drivingconnections. A t

It will be observed that the crank shaft has a constant throw, thevariable motion being given to the piston by increasing and decreasingthe length of the piston rod and that the mechanism by which thisvariable motion is imparted comprises a lever that is supported by thecrank shaft portion of the piston rod and is operated by a cam devicecarried by the crank shaft.

What I claim is l 1. In an internal combustion engine, the combinationof a piston, a crank having a uniform throw, an extensible pistonrodconnecting the crank and piston, and means for lengthening the pistonrod during the exhaust stroke to effect thorough scavenging of theengine cylinder.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank having aconstant throw, a piston, an extensible piston rod connecting the crankand piston, means for lengthening the piston rod on the exhaust strokeand shorteningit on the intake stroke and for maintaining it in itsshortened condition during the compression and working strokes. Y

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank, apiston, a piston rod comprising two parts movable with reference to eachother, one connected with the piston and the other with the crank shaft,a cam device carried by the crank shaft, and means carried by the pistonrod and operated upon by the said cam device for lengthening the pistonrod during the exhaust stroke of the en 'ne and maintaining it inshortened conditlon during the. compression and working strokes.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank shafthaving a constant throw, a piston, a piston rod connecting the crankshaft and piston, formed of at least two parts, one connected with thepiston and the other with the crank shaft and movable longitudinallyrelative to each other, the parts being arranged to come into engagementwith each other to render the r0 ri id against longitudinal strainswhen,

it is s ortened, and means for lengthening the piston rod during theexhaust stroke of the engine to eifect complete scavenging of the enginecylinder, and to maintain it in shortened condition during thecompression and working strokes.

5; In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank,apiston, a piston rod formed of a part connected with'the piston and aseparate part connected with the crank shaft, these parts being movablelongitudinally with reference to each other,

the other part, supported by the crank shaft part of the piston rod, anda cam device carried b the crank shaft for operating the lever an tendedand the piston to move away from the crank shaft bearing during theexhaust stroke of the engine and to return toward the engine during theintake stroke and to maintain it in such returned position during thecompression and working strokes.

6. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank shafthaving a constant throw, a piston, a piston rod connecting the crankshaft and piston and formed of two parts united together but capable oftelescopic movement with reference to each other, one part connectedonlyvwith the piston and the other only with the crank shaft, the partsbeing arranged so that when the are telescoped together the free end ofeac piston rod part has bearing against an abutment carried by the otherpart rendering the piston rod rigid longitudinally, and means for movinthe piston-connected part of'the piston rof haust stroke-of the engineto effect a complete scavenging of the engine 0 linder, moving itinwardly during the inta e stroke and maintainin it in such inwardposition, with the free en s of the piston rod parts against,

outwardly during the ex-- causing the piston rod to be extherein, andthe free ends of the piston rod parts are beveled and faced abutments.

8. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank shafthaving a constant throw, a piston, a piston rod formed of two separateparts, oneconnected with the crank shaft and the other with the piston,the parts of thepiston rod being united but movable longitudinally withreference to each other, a lever supported by the crank shaft portion ofthe piston rod and connected with the piston portion thereof for movingthe latter, and a cam device fast upon the crank shaft, with which thelever engages, arranged to move the lever to cause the piston portion ofthe piston rod to be moved outwardly during the exhaust stroke of the ene and inwardly during the intake strol e and maintained in its inwardengage with bevelposition during the compression and worklever to engagewith the eccentric groove during the exhaust and intake strokes and withthe concentric groove during the compression and working strokes.

10. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank shaft,a piston, a two-part piston rod the parts of which are movablelongitudinally with reference to each other, means for causing avariable movement of the piston and relative longitudinal movement ofthe parts of the piston rod as the piston is reciprocated by the .crankshaft, and means for effecting a forced lubrication of the piston rodbearings through the relative movementof the piston rod parts.

11. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a crank shaft,a piston, a two-part piston rod, one part being connected with the crankshaft and the other with the piston, the parts of the piston rod beingmovable longitudinally with reference to each other, and the free endsof the piston rods bein encased whereby when the piston part 0 the rodis moved relatively outwardly spaces are left and enclosed by the saidencasing means, the piston rod being formed with longitudinal oil ductsleading to the piston bearing and to the crank shaft bearing andcommunicating with the said encased spaces at the ends of the piston rodsections, there being a communication between a source of oil supply andone of the said spaces, and means for causing a relative movement of thepiston-connected part of the piston rod as the piston is operated by thecrank shaft.

M'EYER NUTA.

